This is going to be a key question when we face our choices of food everyday.
The incidences of the melamine contamination in milk powder, eggs, chicken feed, and wheat gluten remind us once again the kind of risk that general consumers like you and I are exposed to.
As the way goes, contamination seems an inevitable part of our modern day living. We kind of accept that vegetables would come with pesticides, the piece of meal on the table might contain some residues of hormones harmful to the body, and virtually all the processed food would have artificial things there including additives, and preservatives.
However, we never can imagine that things could be so sinister and disastrous when it comes to greed by even a few. Vegetables end up so much contaminated with heavy metal just because someone takes the easy way out using industrial waste/sewage for irrigation. What about fish farmers using contraceptive pills in their feed, or DDT used on vats of pickles to keep the bugs away, or opiates added in the soup to create an addiction by customers.
How relevant is the motto “buyer beware” these days!
Even health supplements are no exception. The incidence of cross contamination leading to the collapse of the public company, Pan Pharmaceuticals, in Australia in 2003 is still fresh in our minds.
When we come to choosing products like fish oil (Omega 3) as an example, it warrants to check out what really is free of heavy metal and organic contaminants. Most of the products on the shelves would not meet this criteria because they are only food standard GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices).
The world is like a toxic cradle. By becoming aware of the likely risks, and also staying away from these likely dangers would be the best policy.
Live Life, Junius.
p.s. by the time of this writing, it has been reported that the milk powder contamination has caused at least 4 deaths and over 13,000 children being hospitalized in China.
This follows my post on November 20 on “Think Out of The Box”. I have almost forgotten this very question I left at the end of the post. My apologies.
I guess you have had your answer already.
As to the workshop I mentioned, you can imagine all sorts of answers from the floor. 2 is the standard one. Some said 4, 5, 10, or 20. Also, a few yelled out loudly at the back, ”Infinity.”
Use your imagination, it can be any number, can be 1 or infinity, said the speaker.
Why 1? He waved in his hands the two parts of his pen. As he put the two together, he said, “one plus one makes …… one.” He was not wrong.
What about infinity? He had made a number of examples, but this one should top all of them. He said, what happens when you have one man and one woman? 
It was a very enjoyable event. We all had good laughs. I am sure everyone had brought home some valuable ideas. As for me, it is the sense of freedom and space, and the certainty that there is really no limit as to what I could become.
We are what we think!
Live Life, Junius.
Filed under General, self improvement, spiritual by .
This is the picture of the bunch of banana I bought from the local Vietnamese suburb, Cabramatta, in Sydney. It is called the Monkey Banana. I would say it is one of the best types of banana I have tried so far. It seems pretty common in Malaysia but not so in Sydney.
Thirty, forty years ago, it would hardly be the subject of conversation at all. What makes this special today is because it is “organic” and “natural”. It is expensive but it is “the real thing”.
More and more people look for organic or natural food these days because they taste better, and more importantly, they have better nutritional value. Why is nutritional value so important? Ask anyone and they would tell you that it makes our body healthier. This is absolutely correct. More precisely, the nutrients from food, consisting of vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants, are the prime ingredients to nurture our body cells. You know, each one of us is made up of over 200 types of body cells to a total of some 70 trillion to 100 trillion cells. They are just like little babies diligently doing their work non-stop 24/7 inside our body. It is a small universe there. If these babies are well fed, they will be strong, and so we are. In other words, our health depends on the healthiness of our body cells.
But, how would we know if these babies are fed enough? This is precisely why we have to focus not just on nutrition, but also optimal nutrition – that these babies are fed with complete and balanced mix of nutrients. World renowned nutritional specialist on sports nutrition and on aging, Dr. Michael Colgan, states that we have to ingest a precise mix of 59 nutrients to optimize our body functions.
We also understand that being “complete and balanced” is extremely important. Imagine if we make a cake, we know the recipe requires so many parts of sugar, flour, butter, and egg. There is no way we can get that same result if we either take away one ingredient or alter the proportion of ingredients. To the body cells, the question on “balance” is a highly critical issue. For instance, we all know that calcium is good for the bones. However, it can only do the job if calcium is accompanied by the right ratio of magnesium and vitamin D. Calcium alone would likely be left in the blood streams and eventually cause stone formation in the kidneys.
As we go down this path, we come to know that safety is a big issue too. But let’s talk about it next time.
Live Life, Junius.
Reference:
Dr. Michael Colgan (Wikipedia) Bestsellers The New Nutrition: Medicine for the Millennium
We often hear people say “think out of the box”? What exactly does it mean?
I would say that the box could be our comfort zone. The Wikipedia defines comfort zone as the environments and behaviours with which one is comfortable, without creating a sense of risk. With this definition, an analogy that vividly comes to mind is the one about the frog. The poor thing sits comfortably inside a jar of water, not knowing that it is on a simmering fire and is gradually (unaware by itself) boiled to death. People say the biggest danger is the lack of a sense of danger. How true it is!
I would also describe the box as the box of conformity. Human civilization has gone through different eras of transformation, from the agricultural state, to industrialization, to the computer age, and now the information highway. For most things, we know that we simply cannot apply the same principles from our ancestors and make it work at this time and age. We need to change.
I remember some interesting questions from a brain-power workshop I attended some time ago. For instance:
“Who would win the race, the rabbit or the tortoise?” (Would you like to think of your answer first before reading on?)
I don’t know your answer, but almost all the people on the floor (including myself) said,” the tortoise!”
We were right if we were asked about the forever told story of the Rabbit and the Tortoise. Why on earth would we think that the tortoise could run faster than the rabbit if not because of that story you and I have heard over a hundred times? This is a good case of conformity, isn’t it?
Now, what about “1+1 =?”
Live Life, Junius.
Filed under General, self improvement, true wealth by .
The internet is such a wonderful place. You only need to start with a word and it could take you to places that you couldn’t even dream of.
I don’t know how I started it but I ended up tumbling across this piece of inspirational story earlier today. I would like to share it with you in case you haven’t seen it. It reads:
When the late Nadine Stair of Louisville, Kentucky, was 85 years old, she was asked what she would do if she had her life to live over again.
“I’d make more mistakes next time,” she said. “I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.
“You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and a raincoat. If I had to do it over again, I would travel lighter than I have.
“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds and I would pick more daisies.”
It is such an uplifting piece. I think we need more of this more often. Let’s talk up the economy. Let’s open up, loosen up, and look up to the brighter side of life. The world is only as beautiful as we can imagine it.
Besides, as the old saying goes: at time of adversity, there is always good opportunity.
Live Life, Junius.
p.s. the reference to Nadine Stair is found on the
Great Inspirational Quotes
Filed under General, family, leisure, self improvement by .
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